


HOLLOW

by BadRomantic



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Almost eating a bug, dealing with past habits, fluff-ish???, short fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-03-14
Packaged: 2019-11-17 22:02:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18107345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadRomantic/pseuds/BadRomantic
Summary: PROMPT: If you’re taking prompts - I’d actually love to see fives relationship with either food or touch?? From what I can tell the commission didn’t pick him up until less than five years ago meaning he spent a LOT of time very alone and likely very hungry, I’m sure eating scavenged food and insects has some kind of effect that he might not even notice or realize





	HOLLOW

Diego got stuck with babysitting duty, again.

He doesn’t get it. You say one nice thing about the kid and suddenly everybody is on his case, telling him to watch him while they all go out and be normal ass people. All except Klaus, but Klaus was busy developing a new hobby of his. Yoga, he thinks. Apparently Ben got him hooked on it.

“I don’t want to be in here.” Five’s 13-year-old voice was contorted with an adult-like disgust, “Just drop me off and I’ll take care of myself. I’m fifty-four for God sakes, can’t a man live?”

“Listen…” Diego carefully turned the wheel, “You may be fifty-four where you’re from, kid, but where I’m standing? You’re thirteen. And you’re a kid who needs parenting. Now, Father never gave us any of that, so we’re tryna do right by you. That’s not so hard to accept, is it?”

“It is when the guy you’re stuck with happens to be the one who spends his entire night parading around looking for crime.” Five grumbled.

“Yeah, well…” Diego gritted his teeth before forcing out a, “You could be stuck with Luther, how’s that?”

Silence.

 _“Yeah that’s what I thought…”_  He mumbled.

God, Five was irritating to all hell. Who the hell is this kid? Sure, he remembers his brother being stuck up and having a major superiority complex before, but it never extended to outright rudeness.

Finally, the radio blared up.

“Oh goody, a mission.” Five mocked.

Diego jerked the wheel and hit the gas, “Just shut up.”

The scene was basic. Another robbery at a maintenance store. He left Five in the car with a light warning before going off to assess the scene. The cops had yet to arrive and he always was best at interrogations.

Turns out, the perps were still in the building. He took them out easy enough, just a few knives in their thighs and they were blubbering about begging for mercy.

“Thank you!” The worker exclaimed as she ran from behind the counter, “You saved my life!”

“Don’t worry ma’am. Anybody would have done it.” He smiled, letting her hug him and gave a light hug back. This is what made being a hero the best, knowing you helped the people.

“Oh… is that your son?” The woman pulled back, looking past him and out the window. He followed her eyes, jerking in surprise when he realized Five was outside of the car and holding something small in his hand.

“Um… yes. Give me a moment, please.” He left her.

“What the hell are you doing?” Diego demanded once he approached his irritating young brother, “You’re suppose to wait in the car!”

“This is a florida roach.” Five said, showing it off and grinning like the cat who got the cream. It looked like a normal roach to him, just blacker and uglier.

“Okay.” Diego lifted a brow.

“I used to eat them all the time.” Five got this wistful look on his face, “They tasted the best.”

Diego didn’t know how to respond to that. Five ate roaches? Maybe that’s why he was so messed up. He realized entirely too late that Five was actually raising the roach up, not to get a better look, but to toss in his mouth.

“Woah!” Diego exclaimed, slapping the roach away and grabbing Five when he reached back for it. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“You can’t just throw food away, Diego!” Five snapped, rounding on him as if he  _hadn’t_  just stopped him from eating a bug, “You never know when it’s going to come up next!”

“The apocalypse has ended, remember?” Diego whispered, “You don’t need to worry about that anymore.”

Five mouth opened, but no sound came out. For a second, he looked genuinely embarrassed.

“Right.” His younger brother gritted out, “My apologies. Old habits never seem to die…”

Diego hesitated for a second before asking, “Hey… want to go to this burger joint? My treat.”

Five eyed him suspiciously.

“And you eat until you’re _full,_  got it?” Diego asked, “None of that… saving it for later shit. There’s food here now, Five. You don’t need to live like that anymore.”

He paid his respect to the lady before going on his merry way with Five. Turns out, the kid must have been starving because he ate through forty bucks worth of food. He’ll be sure to pass along the fact that Five has been starving himself to the rest of his siblings.

* * *

 

It was Klaus’s turn to babysit the old man.

Which was hilarious in itself because in actuality it was Ben babysitting Five, but who was to care?

“So, whatcha wanna do, kiddo?” Klaus asked Five, “Wanna play Monopoly? I bet that’s a game you’ll enjoy. Watching the life drain from people’s eyes.”

“I would sure like to see yours drain right now.” Five said nonchalantly as he flipped through the newspaper.

“Oh, a zinger!” Klaus looked to Ben, “You hear that? He has a sense of humour.”

Ben just rolled his eyes, “Ask him if he’s hungry.”  
  


“I asked him that an hour ago.”

“Ask him  _again.”_

“Are you–”

“No, I’m not hungry.”

“You sure? I’m hungry. I’m always hungry, though.”

Klaus pondered it for a bit.

“Maybe it’s because I was always so high.”

Five just sighed through his nose and flipped the page.

“Okay, no to monopoly.” Klaus tapped his foot and leaned back on the couch. It was a little strange just having Five across from him. He much preferred being right next to the people he was talking to.

 _Right,_  Klaus decided,  _I should sit next to him!_

So, he stood up and walked right over to sit next to his darling younger brother. He made a show of throwing his arm around Five and pulling him in. The tension in Five’s shoulder’s did not go unnoticed.

“What are you doing?” Five demanded, squeezing the newspaper in his hands.

“Sitting next to my favourite brother– besides you.” Klaus spared a glance at Ben, “What are you reading?”

Five didn’t talk for a bit. Finally, he said, “I’m looking at job applications.”

“Aren’t you a little… young?” Klaus asked.

“I was hoping I could get a false identity.” Five glanced through the pages, “Pretend I’m sixteen.”

“Ah, I see.” Klaus nodded. How boring.

Ben spoke up from beside them, “He’s eyeing your hand on his shoulder.”

“Is he now?” Klaus looked to his dead brother, “I wonder what for?”

“I think he likes you touching him.” Ben got a mischievous look on his face.

Klaus looked back to Five. “Hey, you wanna cuddle?”

Five sputtered before setting the paper down on his lap and glaring at Klaus. “If you so much as hug me, I’m going to serve up your liver tomorrow for supper.”

“You know what that sounds like?” Klaus stuck out his bottom lip, pretending to dot on Five and fixed up (ruined) his hair, “It sounds like you need a cuddle from big bro Klauddy-wuddy.”

“Do  _NOT-!”_

Klaus already did it. He squeezed Five close to him, a bear hug of sorts, and rested his head against Five’s hair. Five struggled for a bit, giving loud indignant hisses before giving up. Klaus kinda liked having Five in his arms. It was like he was holding a brittle teddy bear.

“This is nice.” Klaus said.

Five growled.

“You got soft hair… what kind of conditioner do you use?”

“I am seven seconds from killing you.”

“That’s a mouthful. We should email the company and tell them to change it.”

While Ben laughed from beside them, Klaus noticed that Five seemed to press back into his touch. He made a mental note to hold Five more often.


End file.
